With decreasing vehicle sizes, it has become necessary to accommodate vehicle components in ever decreasing spaces. Traditionally, a closure panel such as a deck lid would be spaced from the vehicle rear window, generally known as a backlite, by a spacer panel. The spacer panel allowed the forward edge of the deck lid to shift forwardly of the vehicle, toward the backlite, without interference as the deck lid was raised to its open position. With a smaller vehicle, it may be desirable to eliminate the spacer panel, while interference between the deck lid edge and the backlite must still be prevented.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,483 to Stafford, provides a closure hinge mechanism intended to deal with the problem described above. The hinge mechanism there disclosed includes a horizontal guide track 60 in which a roller on the end of a hinge arm 36 mounted to the deck lid 28 rides, giving a sliding pivot. A torsion bar 64 secured to deck lid 28 has its lower end pivoted to the vehicle compartment at 72, giving a fixed pivot. The patent specification recites that as lid 28 is raised, the dual simultaneous pivoting about the sliding and the fixed pivot will allow the edge of lid 28 to move upwardly and slightly rearwardly, that is, away from, the backlite 20. However, while the final position of the edge of lid 28 may in fact be spaced away from the backlite, it will initially move forwardly of the vehicle, toward the backlite, before moving away. While this may not present a problem with a sloped backlite, it may well represent a problem with a more vertically disposed backlite, or with a deck lid edge that rests closer to the backlite.